Between The Sunflowers , Poem by : Andrew Lea
Sunflowers from the Garden
Photography : Nigel Borrington
Between The Sunflowers
He sat between the sunflowers, counting the ants as they crawled across his toes. “27”…”28″—He paused, swearing that he’d seen this one before. “What the hell, 29.”
He sat beneath the oak tree in his back yard, sticky from sunflower sap. The sun, hot and high, rested in the sky strait above him. He would often stare at it, until his eyes stung and he could see the purple spots even after he looked away.
.
He was running, through the halls in the decaying house. Running from the invisible phantoms with their malevolent smiles and sinister goals. Running from the silhouette at the end which was shaped much like his father, only far too tall. Running, with starving lungs and heavy feet as the floor screamed and walls shook, as the windows began to fracture and the entire foundation was torn from the earth under the weight of his fear.
Running, towards the sunflowers, which stood and beautiful under the afternoon sun.
A Farmer by Trade, Poem By : Kevin Pace
A Farmer by Trade
Ballytobin, County Kilkenny
Landscape Photography : Nigel Borrington
A Farmer by Trade
Poem By : Kevin Pace
He worked on the land, a farmer by trade.
He never will know the impact he made.
When plowing the fields, his mind would be filled
with lessons in life he taught and instilled.
“Life’s pretty simple” my grandpa would claim,
“The rules we should live by are always the same.”
He delivered his thoughts in a wry kind of style.
You’d think he was mad, but then he would smile.
.
He was always profound, a man of his word.
He would always look forward despite what occurred.
“I’ve never reaped anything I didn’t first sow.
The seeds that you plant is the crop that will grow.
Fix your eyes on a spot, if you want to plow straight.
If you need to start over, it’s never too late.”
One thing I remember, he often would share,
“Don’t tear down a fence, ‘til you know why it’s there.
Some fences are built to keep danger away,
some fences are built so we’ll know where to stay.”
His philosophy in life was to, “Let people be.
I’m not here to judge, lest they should judge me.”
“Some things are better off left on the ground,
manure doesn’t stink ‘til you stir it around.”
The best thing he taught me was how I could find
the answer to anything crossing my mind.
Whatever I’d ask him, he’d get out the Book,
saying, “God wrote it down, if you take time to look.”
He understood things that few understand.
A farmer by trade, he worked on the land.
Images from a field of blue bells – Poem : ‘The Bright Field’ by R. S. Thomas
Our dog Molly, In the Blue bells field, Slievenamon, County Tipperary
Landscape Photography : Nigel Borrington
Located on the west slopes of Slievenamon , County Tipperary, is a small yet wonderful little field .
To reach it you have to walk some thirty minutes through wood-lands and up a mountain track, finally reaching a gate. The site that welcomes you in May is that of a field full of blue bells and an old derelict farm cottage. This cottage would be able to tell some amazing stories and if it only could!
Above the field are the mountain slopes that I am much more use to seeing, with mountain heather and scrub lands, streams and baths.
I have visited this field many times, its a great location during the summer and a wonderful escape and resting place after a walk to the top of the mountain.
I just wanted to share one of my most loved local locations here and also one of my most loved Poems by R. S. Thomas, which I feel is perfect for this post ….
The Bright Field
by R. S. Thomas
I have seen the sun break through
to illuminate a small field
for a while, and gone my way
and forgotten it. But that was the
pearl of great price, the one field that had
treasure in it. I realise now
that I must give all that I have
to possess it. Life is not hurrying
on to a receding future, nor hankering after
an imagined past. It is the turning
aside like Moses to the miracle
of the lit bush, to a brightness
that seemed as transitory as your youth
once, but is the eternity that awaits you.
The field a Gallery
Finding the Silver light of other days , Gallery and a Poem by : Thomas Moore
Memories of silver light, Glencommon, County Kilkenny
Landscape photography : Nigel Borrington
On the top of the hill at Glencommon, county Kilkenny is the Ghostly remains of an old farm.
Last Sunday morning I took a walk up the hill in the mist with my camera and took these images, it was a very haunting experience but one I really enjoyed.
The poem below by Thomas Moore came to mind as the mist of the day seamed to recreate the past of this wonderful old place, how many memories it must hold yet all of them lost in the mists of time.
The Light of Other Days
By Thomas Moore
1779-1852
Often, in the stilly night,
Ere slumber’s chain has bound me,
Fond Memory brings the light
Of other days around me:
The smiles, the tears
Of boyhood’s years,
The words of love then spoken;
The eyes that shone,
Now dimm’d and gone,
The cheerful hearts now broken!
Thus, in the stilly night,
Ere slumber’s chain has bound me,
Sad Memory brings the light
Of other days around me.
When I remember all
The friends, so link’d together,
I’ve seen around me fall
Like leaves in wintry weather,
I feel like one
Who treads alone
Some banquet-hall deserted,
Whose lights are fled,
Whose garlands dead,
And all but he departed!
Thus, in the stilly night,
Ere slumber’s chain has bound me.
Sad Memory brings the light
Of other days around me.
Finding memories in the silver light , Gallery
A misty day , A poem By : Paul Laurence Dunbar
A Misty Day
A Misty Morning on Glencommon hill, County Kilkenny
Irish Landscape Photography : Nigel Borrington
A Misty Day
By : Paul Laurence Dunbar
Heart of my heart, the day is chill,
The mist hangs low o’er the wooded hill,
The soft white mist and the heavy cloud
The sun and the face of heaven shroud.
The birds are thick in the dripping trees,
That drop their pearls to the beggar breeze;
No songs are rife where songs are wont,
Each singer crouches in his haunt.
.
Heart of my heart, the day is chill,
Whene’er thy loving voice is still,
The cloud and mist hide the sky from me,
Whene’er thy face I cannot see.
.
My thoughts fly back from the chill without,
My mind in the storm drops doubt on doubt,
No songs arise. Without thee, love,
My soul sinks down like a frightened dove.
Walking through a field at Coolehill , images with a poem
Coolehill, Windgap, County Kilkenny
Irish Landscape Photography : Nigel Borrington
Walking across a field at Coolehill
Walking across the fields of Coolehill,
Ash, Briar, hawthorn, holly, and hazel
A wall around the field that your in.
.
Above you
is a big blue sky, with its layers of soft clouds,
held up by the rows of oaks.
A sheltered patch of sunshine:
.
I stop
and stand in silence
and close your eyes
and feel the warmth on your face,
whilst a blackbird sings.
inspired by Holbury Lane, Lockerley
Irish Landscape Photography : The barn by the bank of the river suir.
Images from the River Suir, County Tipperary
Landscape photography : Nigel Borrington
A walk along the River Suir as it flows through county Tipperary offers some wonderful views, the old stone barns and farm yards have to be amongst the best of these.
I took the pictures below on a spring walk last year, a warm Sunday afternoon.
The Barn by the river Suir, Gallery
The Pig, By : Roald Dahl
Pigs at Snowdon National park
Photography : Nigel Borrington
The Pig
Roald Dahl
Once there lived a big
And wonderfully clever pig.
To everybody it was plain
That Piggy had a massive brain.
He worked out sums inside his head,
There was no book he hadn’t read.
He knew what made an airplane fly,
He knew how engines worked and why.
He knew all this, but in the end
One question drove him round the bend:
He simply couldn’t puzzle out
What LIFE was really all about.
What was the reason for his birth?
Why was he placed upon this earth?
His giant brain went round and round.
Alas, no answer could be found.
Till suddenly one wondrous night.
All in a flash he saw the light.
He jumped up like a ballet dancer
And yelled, ‘By gum, I’ve got the answer! ‘
‘They want my bacon slice by slice
‘To sell at a tremendous price!
‘They want my tender juicy chops
‘To put in all the butcher’s shops!
‘They want my pork to make a roast
‘And that’s the part’ll cost the most!
‘They want my sausages in strings!
‘They even want my chitterlings!
‘The butcher’s shop! The carving knife!
‘That is the reason for my life! ‘
Such thoughts as these are not designed
To give a pig great piece of mind.
Next morning, in comes Farmer Bland,
A pail of pigswill in his hand,
And piggy with a mighty roar,
Bashes the farmer to the floor…
Now comes the rather grisly bit
So let’s not make too much of it,
Except that you must understand
That Piggy did eat Farmer Bland,
He ate him up from head to toe,
Chewing the pieces nice and slow.
It took an hour to reach the feet,
Because there was so much to eat,
And when he finished, Pig, of course,
Felt absolutely no remorse.
Slowly he scratched his brainy head
And with a little smile he said,
‘I had a fairly powerful hunch
‘That he might have me for his lunch.
‘And so, because I feared the worst,
‘I thought I’d better eat him first.’
Memories of a Christmas past.
Snow on the foot hills of Slievenamon, Co.Tipperary
Irish Landscape Photography : Nigel Borrington
Well we are only 6 days away from Christmas day and like most people I have been wondering if we will get some snow for Christmas . This year however here in Ireland none has been predicted and it looks like there will only be rain.
So I thought I would post some pictures of the local fields back on Christmas day in 2011, covered in a wonderful white blanked of snow.
Gallery of a snow covered Landscape, Christmas 2011
An old farm with a mountain view.
The old farm with a mountain view, Ninemile house, Tipperary
Irish Landscape Photography : Nigel Borrington
The Irish Landscape is full of old Farms and home places, filled with many memories of generations past…..
This farm is located very close to the mountain of Slievenamon, country Tipperary.
Gallery
What is a Horse ? , Poem by : Lily Whittaker
Uisge beatha, A county Kilkenny Horse
Photography : Nigel Borrington
What is a Horse ?
By: Lily Whittaker
What is a horse?
A horse has eyes as dainty as a mink.
The grace is interrupted merely by a blink.
A horse is beauty.
What is a horse?
A horse is a tree in a storm that never goes down.
A horse is a weathered rock that stays around.
A horse is ancient.
.
What is a horse?
A horse waltzes like breeze over rivers.
She curvets and leaps like rain shivers.
A horse is a marionette.
What is a horse?
A horse is determination, that never stops flowing.
A horse is fondness, that never stops growing.
A horse is poetic power.
Memories of a winters farm
Fujifilm X100
Memories of a Winters Farm
Landscape photography : Nigel Borrington
Memories of a winters farm
This weekend two years ago I was staying at a farm located near Eryrys, Denbighshire, North Wales.
On arrival the weather was cold with some snow in the air but by the next morning it had started snowing heavily and did not stop for the full two weeks of the visit.
Farming in this kind of weather is very difficult and feeding the animals very much so, the following images are just some taken during the stay and I feel they captured the north Wales landscape during one of its hardest winters for some forty years.
Gallery
The Cattle of Tullaghought hill
Nikon D700
The Cattle on Tullaghought hill
Irish Landscape photography : Nigel Borrington
One Sunday during the summer I walked to the top of the hill at Tullaghought, County Kilkenny, in order to get some photographs of the stone circle that sits on it.
Well on arriving at the circle some cattle who had followed me through the fields then decided to graze around the circle for some two hours before the headed off down the hill-side. In the end I did get some images that I was very happy with, including the last image in this set.
It was great fun sitting and waiting and looking at the great landscape of Kilkenny.
Moments at the Market
Nikon D700, 50mm f1.4 lens
Kilkenny Cattle market, Gallery image
Irish photography : Nigel Borrington
Two Local Farmers, Talking – Kilkenny Cattle market, Oct 2013.
Two Cows in county Kilkenny
Sigma SD x3 Slr, 15-30mm f3.5-4.5 ex lens
Two cows in County Kilkenny
Irish Landscape potography : Nigel Borrington
It’s not often, if at all I post a single image, just one image !
So maybe its time to just look at one, a single image of two cows in a field.
I was just standing at a gate that’s along a lane I often walk down in county Kilkenny and took this photo, so I hope you enjoy it !
The Red Barn Remembers
Fujifilm x100
The old red barn. kells, county Kilkenny
Irish landscape photography : Nigel Borrington
The Red Barn Remembers
The red barn stands, silhouetted against the sky.
A tree wraps its young limbs about her
as if to protect her from time and age.
Her roof is sagging, color faded ,
An errant plume of red along her frame.
.
Yet, proudly she stands, remembrance of a happy time.
Shelter from the rain, children
Playing in her hair, lovers hiding in her shadows.
Beauty I see now, not bright, not boastful.
With dignity and respect she bows to age.
Classic Irish homes
Images take using a Nikon D7000
Classic Irish Home, County Tipperary
Irish landscape photography : Nigel Borrington
When I first came to live in Ireland, one thing I really noticed what the different architecture around the country.
While many homes in both Ireland and main land Europe can and do look the same, I started wondering what the classical Irish house looked like, Well this house sitting on the borders of county Tipperary and Kilkenny to myself is it.
Rectangular with it’s five windows at the front and an arched red front door, this house is so classically Irish in nature that I would now see it as the classic 1900’s Irish home.
These houses could both be a Farm house with the Farm yard at the back or a town house sitting with a garden at the back and the street at the front.
Classical 1900’s Irish home
Wild Mushrooms in the Irish woodlands.
All images using a Fujifilm X100
Autumn Mushrooms at Woodstock, County Kilkenny
Irish Nature and landscape photography : Nigel Borrington
On Saturday while walking through the woodlands above the River Barrow, Woodstock, Inistioge in county Kilkenny. At the back of a farm yard I came across these Mushrooms growing in the ground of the woodland.
At this time of year just as the Autumn is taking a hold the local woodlands come to life with all kinds of Mushrooms, I managed to get the below pictures and intend to go hunting for more during the week and next weekend.
The Image above is of Shaggy ink cap (Coprinus comatus) Mushrooms and below are Sulphur Tuft (Hypholoma fasciculare) mushrooms .
Irish wild mushrooms, Gallery
Irish landscape photography
All images taken using a, Fujifilm x100
The black and white Farming landscape of the woodstock estate, county Kilkenny
Irish landscape photography : Nigel Borrington
The Following images are from the wonderful Rural landscape of the Woodstock farming estate, above the river Barrow at Inistioge, county Kilkenny.
Taken last Saturday afternoon, while walking in the area.
Irish Landscape : Gallery
Sunday evening by the Derriana Lake
Fujifilm x100
Red tractor, Derriana Lake, county kerry
Irish landscape photography : Nigel Borrington
Sunday evening at Derriana lake
One Sunday evening during the summer, while visiting Derriana lake, county Kerry, we went for a walk along the local lanes.
We came across this old red tractor resting in a field above the lake, I felt this view reflected Sunday evenings very well.
A tractor, rested during the weekend, but ready to start all over again on Monday morning.
Kilkenny (Iverk show ) – Sheep shearers
All images using a Nikon D7000
Sheep shearers and the Kilkenny county show
Events photography : Nigel Borrington
The Kilkenny – Iverk show, is held in the village of (Piltown, county Kilkenny) each September.
It’s a great day of agricultural events from horse and cattle shows to equipment demonstrations.
The sheep shearing competitions and demonstrations each year bring in a big crowd. The images below show how sheep are sheared both in modern and older times.
Sheep shearing demonstration gallery
County Kilkenny – through it’s trees
All images using a – Sigma SD15, 15-30mm lens
County kilkenny, through its trees
Landscape photography : Nigel Borrington
A sense of county Kilkenny , September 2013
Getting out and about in county Kilkenny on these late summer days is just wonderful, this Gallery of images was from an evenings walk through some local country lanes. I hope they get across a sense of the county and its wonderful landscape on an early evening in September.
In a September hedgerow – Hover flys, Honey bees and Crane flys
All images taken using a Fujifilm x100
In a Kilkenny Hedgerow, September 2013 – Hover flys and Crane flys
Landscape and nature Photography, Nigel Borrington
In September all the insects in the hedgerow seem to come to life, they feed frantically on the remaining flowers and fruit before the Autumn takes hold.
Nigel Borrington 
Kilkenny Photography – Cattle market
Nikon D700, 50mm f1.4 lens
Kilkenny Cattle market, Gallery image
Irish photography : Nigel Borrington
Kilkenny Cattle market, Thursday Morning 24th Oct.
I have just spent the last two Thursday mornings at the Cattle market in county Kilkenny building up some Gallery images and selling some cattle I invested in.
The market meets each Thursday Morning from around 9am, the sales provide one the most atmospheric locations to take images in and I just loved watching all the farmers selling or buying cattle.
I will keep returning over the next months as I hope to keep building on this portfolio of images, I will also post the best images I have so far during the coming weeks.
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October 29, 2013 | Categories: Comment, Down on the farm, Gallery | Tags: cattle auctions, Cattle market, county Kilkenny, farming, irish commencial photography, Irish photography, Kilkenny, Nigel Borrington, nikon d700 | 5 Comments